KB News Desk
Minumsa Publishing Group has launched the sixth edition of its annual waterproof book series, this time spotlighting essays from its humanities magazine, titled “Han Pyeon,” which means “one volume” in Korean, the company said Tuesday.
First introduced in 2018, the waterproof book features non-spreading ink printed on mineral paper, which is made from recycled stone waste gathered from quarries and mines rather than wood. These pages are resistant to water damage and can return back to their original form after coming into contact with moisture, making the book suitable for reading at the beach, by the pool or in the bathtub.Over the years, Minumsa has released water-resistant editions of notable literary works such as Cho Nam-joo’s “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982,” Chang Kang-myoung’s “Because I Hate Korea” and Chung Se-rang’s “School Nurse Ahn Eunyoung.”In 2020, it became the first domestic publishing house to win the iF Design Award in the Communication category for its three-part Gothic-horror series that included Mary Shelley’s “The Invisible Girl.”This year’s waterproof book series consists of two volumes: “Once We Stop Scrolling” and “Practice Becoming Myself” (direct translations). Each features six essays originally published in the triannual magazine “Han Pyeon,” which targets a young generation of readers with its timely sociopolitical topics.Among the two works, “Once We Stop Scrolling” explores the multifaceted world of image-saturated, dopamine-inducing online media through six short writings penned by authors, scholars and activists.These essays delve into a number of issues faced by today’s young digital natives — the sense of self hidden beneath the glitter of fragmented online images and videos, the dangers of short-term body sculpting for a single body profile photoshoot and the relentless impulse to seek attention through sensational and baiting content.However, at the same time, social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram can also become powerful sites of protest and solidarity across borders, recently exemplified by the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.
